


life's under no obligation

by TheMoonByNight



Category: The Outsiders - S. E. Hinton
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-09
Updated: 2021-01-09
Packaged: 2021-03-13 01:14:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28645038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheMoonByNight/pseuds/TheMoonByNight
Summary: Johnny took his place at the chair next to Pony carefully. The table was the kind with the chairs already attached, and any wrong move could set the table folding in half and everyone spilling to the floor. Normally the rest of the gang didn’t bother to watch out for the table’s instability, but Johnny’s caution wasn’t entirely unwarranted. What was weird, however, was the ginger way Johnny set his bag down on the table. It was a piece of shit bag he’d had forever, cloth wearing away at the bottom, and Pony had never noticed him taking special care of it before. But when he reached into his bag and pulled out a white DS, Pony understood the attentive way he’d treated the bag.A modern day-in-the-life AU, where the gang goes to school.
Relationships: Johnny Cade & Ponyboy Curtis, Ponyboy Curtis & Sodapop Curtis
Comments: 1
Kudos: 10





	life's under no obligation

**Author's Note:**

> So I went on a walk this morning and was struck with inspiration for this fic... and then tonight I sat down and wrote it in one sitting. It's my first Outsider's fic but I have a lot of feelings about Ponyboy, the gang, their dynamic, etc., etc. Please leave comments/kudos and let me know what you think!
> 
> P.S. The title is based on a quote from Gone With the Wind!

Monday morning arrived without much of a fuss. Darry dropped Pony and Soda off at the high school at 7:00 AM, as per usual. He liked to make sure that Soda and Pony were on time for school—but also couldn’t afford to be late to his job at the construction site. He’d been a part of the team building up the new college buildings downtown, and so far hadn’t been able to shut up about how nice they were going to be. Soda was good at feigning interest despite his interest in college being slim to none. Pony, on the other hand, had many a fight about Darry’s increasingly less subtle suggestions that the school will be open and ready by the time Pony graduated high school. Pony wasn’t even sure he  _ wanted  _ to go to college, let alone what for. He was content to just get his breakfast right now, and hang out with the rest of the gang. 

He shook his head out of his reverie when Soda poked him in the side. They’d come inside (only half-heartedly greeted by the receptionist in the front office that opened the doors in the morning) and made their way to the cafeteria and the breakfast line all while Ponyboy had spaced out. The lunch lady had already gotten Soda’s breakfast, and now asked (had probably been asking) Pony what he wanted for breakfast. It was a choice between some pre-packaged pastry and slowly defrosting fruit cups. Pony wrinkled his nose. Free breakfast was nothing to sneeze at, but that didn’t mean the options were always extensive or even particularly appetizing. 

“Pastry, please.” 

Pony and Soda went back to the table that all-but had their names on it with their breakfast. One of the luxuries of being the first in the cafeteria was that they had their choice of tables, as well as the feeling that they owned the school, if only for a little while. Teachers still stood around keeping watch, but this early in the morning, teachers weren’t required to be there—and half the time when they were they didn’t pay attention anyway. The school itself enrolled nearly 2,500 students, but only felt big enough to fit them all in the morning before anyone else had shown up. That was the only time that Pony noticed the tens of tables in the cafeteria, the many branching hallways that each held at least five classrooms. There was something about the emptiness that made space remarkable. 

As they sat down, Soda started regaling him with tales about the latest nasty customer that he and Steve had dealt with at the Autobell mechanics shop they worked at after school. Soda always had some cool story about the mechanic’s shop, and if Pony was even a little bit better with his hands, he’d beg Soda to teach him how to work with cars too. But Steve was always railing on him about being a tag-along, and he wasn’t going to open himself up to more digs because he was trying to work at the mechanic’s shop without any skills. As Soda told the story, he kept running his hands over the back of his head, probably a result of the haircut that Two-Bit had given him yesterday. It looked good, all lined up and faded on the sides into something a bit longer on top, that just barely showed off Soda’s curls. Pony wasn’t surprised—Two-Bit had wanted to be a barber for a bit, and Soda always looked like some movie star in the making. He was probably just touching it so much because haircuts were itchy afterward, not because he didn’t like it. Haircuts were always itchy afterward. Not that Pony would know. 

Ponyboy reached up and self-consciously grabbed at his own hair. It was long and curly but tied into a ponytail because he hadn’t felt like going through the whole process of combing it out that morning. Once upon a time, his mother had said that he’d had “good hair,” with something like pride in her tone. In his opinion, it was his best feature. But Soda was always saying he should cut it, get himself a nice fade, and then more girls would like him. But Pony loved his hair. He wasn’t going to cut it unless he had to. 

“Anyways, you got practice tonight? I got work until 6:00, and me and Steve can swing’n get you after.” Soda said, mouth full. He was always doing stuff like that—waving his hands around and flinging something across the room because he’d forgotten he had something in it or talking with his mouth full because he had something on his mind more pressing than food. Normally Ponyboy thought it was just a part of his brother, a part that he loved like the rest, but at that particular moment, it was simply—

“Gross. You got some of that fruit on my jacket. And no, I don’t got practice tonight. Darry’s picking me up.” Pony frowned. Soda just rolled his eyes in response and shoved his shoulder. He made a show of chewing his food, mouth closed, and made a face, eyes wide and cheeks distended that made Pony burst into laughter. 

“What’s so funny?” Pony turned around and faced the doors to the front of the school. Dallas was walking in, blond hair sleek as always and nearly glued to his forehead. Johnny was walking just behind him, hands stuffed into his usual black jacket. He wore it every day, regardless of the weather, although it was now getting to be the temperature outside that necessitated a jacket that heavy. 

“Just Soda’s dumb face.” Pony said with a nod at Dally and Johnny each. Dally nodded seriously as if Pony had made an excellent point, and hopped up to sit on the table itself diagonal to where Pony and Soda were sitting. Johnny took his place at the chair next to Pony carefully. The table was the kind with the chairs already attached, and any wrong move could set the table folding in half and everyone spilling to the floor. Normally the rest of the gang didn’t bother to watch out for the table’s instability, but Johnny’s caution wasn’t entirely unwarranted. What was weird, however, was the ginger way Johnny set his bag down on the table. It was a piece of shit bag he’d had forever, cloth wearing away at the bottom, and Pony had never noticed him taking special care of it before. But when he reached into his bag and pulled out a white DS, Pony understood the attentive way he’d treated the bag. 

“Where’d you get that?” Soda said, leaning over Pony to look at the game. 

“Saw it by the lost and found. No charger, but it still turns on for now.” Johnny said smugly. He was right to be smug, Pony thought, because even Dallas looked impressed at the find. He had also leaned over towards Johnny and the game to see what he did with it.

“Look—it’s already got some game in there.” Johnny said. “Here, Pony, let’s trade off until it dies.” he said, booting up the game that was loaded into the cartridge—some Mario game that Pony didn’t know the name of. Pony didn’t much care for video games but passing the DS back and forth with Johnny while hoping it didn’t die before you beat your level was fun enough. 

It finally started blinking a yellow light that let them know it was going to die maybe 20 minutes later, right around when Steve showed up. He was yawning and carrying on about closing up the shop last night after Soda had run off with some girl. Looking sheepish, and not the least bit guilty, Soda promised to help him close later on that week. 

It wasn’t long after that that the bell rang signaling that they all had 10 minutes to get to class. Ponyboy hadn’t seen Two-Bit this morning, but that wasn’t unusual. He was probably just running late, which was nothing new. The day that Two-Bit came in on time was the day that Soda would join the cooking club.

After waving goodbye to the others, Pony made his way to his History class, his first of the day. Pony didn’t have any classes with the rest of the gang, which was both a blessing and a curse. He doubted that he’d get any real work done in his classes if they shared classes, but at the same time, he missed their comfortable banter in his classes, which were instead filled with well-meaning but ultimately boring kids. He had a few classmates that were on the track team and got along with them fine, but it just wasn’t the same. The rest of them shared a few classes—Steve and Soda had a math class together that Pony knew about only because they constantly complained about how much it sucked to do algebra and pre-calculus when they’d never use it in the real world. Dally was in ISS more often than not, and Two-Bit and Johnny shared a remedial class or two. It was only Pony who was on his own. 

He made it through the morning, however, and met up with the rest of the guys next to the alcove where the vending machines and the door to the courtyard were. They always sat in the courtyard for lunch, even when one of the guys ran out and got food. Technically, the seniors and juniors had open lunch, but that required someone 1) having a car and enough gas or 2) someone walking there and back with everyone’s food. Neither was on the table that day because it was to cold, and Two-Bit didn’t feel like wasting gas, after getting stuck behind an accident that morning, which was supposedly the cause for him being late (Pony bet he’d been late before the accident had even happened, but whether or not Two-Bit showed up to school on time was no skin off Pony’s back).

They all sat around, taking turns complaining about the cold stone benches that sucked the warmth outright through their jeans, or in Dally’s case, bragging about some girl he’d flirted with at the movies last night. Steve was the only one who remained completely silent (even Johnny offered a comment or two about the cold, or the girl Dally was talking about that apparently everyone but Pony knew).

“Whatsa matter, Stevie?” Two-Bit asked, grinning devilishly. It took a second to figure out why until he noticed Steve’s arms crossed tight across his chest and the very thin jacket he was wearing. 

“Shut up,” Steve said, jaw clenched. That just made Two-Bit smile wider. 

“You cold?” he crooned, making a pouty face at Steve. None of them were necessarily comfortable in the cold, but they all had thicker jackets than Steve.

“Man, fuck off.” Steve said, almost sounding angry. Two-Bit shoved at him a bit and soon they were tussling on the ground, the rest of the boys jeering at them. They were lucky the courtyard was empty that day. Sometimes teachers came out and handed out referrals for the silliest shit—like a little good-natured roughhousing. When they finally finished their fight, both a little out of breath, Johnny spoke up. 

“Bet you wish you had my coat now.” Johnny said quietly, but still loud enough for everyone to hear. There was a beat of silence, and then uproariously laughter from everyone. It was rare that Johnny ever ribbed on one of them on his own, but when he did it was always with perfect timing. 

Steve had been notorious for making jabs at Johnny’s jacket when it was hot out, and although at first the other’s had griped at him for messing with Johnny, it eventually became his and Johnny’s sort of inside joke. They’d still had their fair share of tussling over it—good-natured roughhousing that normally Darry had to break up—but now it was Johnny who was teasing Steve. All of them got a good laugh at that, until somehow the conversation turned to vape versus cigarettes. All Ponyboy knew was that there weren’t any pros or cons for one or the other for him. He could bum a few cigarettes or vape hits off the rest of the gang, but if Darry caught him he was dead meat. 

That conversation took up the rest of the lunch period, which went by much faster than Pony would have preferred. By the time the bell rang, Soda and Steve were packing up to go to their next shift at work, with Two-Bit offering to give them a ride, and Dally skipping out with him. It was only Johnny and Ponyboy who were staying behind. Before they left, however, they passed a bunch of rich kids in the hall—two girls and a guy that looked vaguely familiar to Pony. One of the girls was plain-looking with mousy brown hair. The other had strawberry blonde hair down her back and a pretty face, although she was under the arm of the boy, who had a handsome face of his own and tousled brown hair that swept gracefully over his forehead. 

“That’s the girl I flirted with last night.” Dally said to the rest of them. Ponyboy somehow knew that he wasn't referring to the mousy-looking one, but to the girl that was obviously with the one Pony recognized. It came to him that the boy looked familiar because he was on the football team—probably a starter if his build was anything to go by. The group walked past the three other students, but they stayed on Pony’s mind. 

Pony’s group was nothing like the popular crowd that those three kids were a part of. They were the ones who ran student government, planned prom, and led the football team to victory. Darry had nearly been among them once upon a time—he’d been the starting running back his junior year of high school and looked like he was going to help the team place his senior year before their parents had died. But the rest of the gang…they would never be anything like those guys. They were darker—not just in complexion, but in the very experiences they’d had. They were rough and tumble compared to the prim and proper way that pack carried themselves. It was just the way things were. 

As Pony continued to muse over their place in the school’s hierarchy, Johnny nudged him by knocking their shoulders together. The others had already walked outside and were heading to Two-Bit’s car, trying to look like they all were allowed to leave. Pony watched for a moment, before turning back to Johnny. 

“You want me to walk with you to class, Pony?” Johnny asked quietly, as the other split off towards their respective destinations. 

“Nah, I’ve got some dumb meeting with the guidance counselor.” Pony said, almost scowling. Johnny knocked his shoulder, and shot him a quick smile before heading off to his own class. Pony sighed as he was left alone in the hallway, for some reason supremely irritated with the idea of talking about his future with some person who didn’t even know him. But not going would definitely get him in trouble, not only with the administration but with Darry too. He was always going on about planning for Pony’s future in a way he never did with Soda.

Pony made his way to the front office where he had to check in with the receptionist to let the guidance counselor know he was waiting. He only waited for around 10 minutes, before she called him back, but it felt like an eternity to Pony. He had a sinking feeling that the meeting itself was only going to be more tedious. 

“Now, normally we’d have your parents here, but…” She started as she let Pony into her office and gestured for him to sit down. She trailed off, looking uncomfortable, as she glanced down at what Pony assumed was her file sitting on her desk. Pony thought she should feel that way—her tone had been judgemental until she’d remembered Pony’s circumstances. It wasn’t his fault that Darry couldn’t come—and it wasn’t Darry’s fault either. He had to work to support Soda and Pony, and sometimes he couldn’t make it to every school meeting. He’d probably just focus on the fact that Pony had a B in Spanish right now, anyway, so his absence was for the best.

“Um, I have a few questions for you before we start looking at your schedule for next year!” she said, quickly changing gears. “Have you ever thought about taking Advanced Placement classes or even applying to enter the IB program? You have good grades, and that would let you get a head start on college.”

“Um, I don’t know anything about those.” Pony said sheepishly. The counselor smiled, looking pleased to be able to speak out something that didn’t have as many minefields as his parents not being there. She told him about the extra work, and the testing at the end of the year, but that students had been able to graduate college years early because of their classes during high school. It all sounded well and good, but Pony felt like there was a catch coming.

“It does cost around $100 to take AP tests, and a bit more for the IB exams, but there are scholarships for students who can’t afford it, and the school is pursuing grants that will let us take care of the cost for all students. What do you think?” she said, smiling at him. Pony nodded, giving her something that was probably closer to a grimace than a smile in response.

“Well…talk it over with your family, and let me know. It wouldn’t really start until your junior year, but we can always get you into AP classes sooner, or even classes that will prepare for the workload!” she said, not unkindly. She got some more papers together, listing out his options for classes next year, as well as more information about the programs she’d been telling him about. After a few more pleasantries from her, Ponyboy was finally dismissed. 

Pony walked out with the pamphlets she’d given him in his hand. He wasn’t sure what to do with them. If he gave them to Darry, he’d definitely make him take the classes. But Pony wasn’t sure if he wanted to. Those classes separated him even more from the rest of the gang, and he wouldn’t be able to ask any of them for help with quick ways to get homework done, or which teachers to watch out for. 

He chewed his thumbnail as he walked to class, staring out of the windows that were high on the walls as he walked past. It was an overcast day, but the sun peeked out of the clouds for a second as Pony walked past the windows. He stood still for a moment and took in the warmth from the light that hit his shoulders, golden and surprisingly warm. The sun hadn’t exactly risen, that day, but this was close enough. 


End file.
